Method and apparatus for providing dynamic pricing services for an interactive information distribution system

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing subscription-on-demand (SOD) services for a interactive information distribution system, where a consumer may subscribe to packages of on-demand programs for a single price and view the programs in the subscribed package at any time for no additional cost. The apparatus and method are embodied in a combination of software, which provides a so called navigator, and hardware, including a subscriber terminal that provides certain functionality for the navigator and service provider equipment that supports the functionality of the terminal. As such, graphical user interface functionality is distributed between the service provider equipment and subscriber equipment (subscriber terminal). Such distribution provides an enjoyable, real time interactive process for accessing SOD services that allows the subscriber to rapidly identify and access a subscription service. In addition, a non-subscriber of a particular service is quickly identified and provided the opportunity to, through the use of a graphical user interface, subscribe to the programming provided by the system.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a divisional of prior, co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/306,955, filed May 7, 1999, and entitled METHODAND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING DYNAMIC PRICING SERVICES FOR AN INTERACTIVEINFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM which application is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/086,799, filed on May 29, 1998, andentitled: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SUBSCRIPTION-ON-DEMANDSERVICES FOR AN INTERACTIVE INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM. Each of theaforementioned related patent applications is herein incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an interactive informationdistribution system such as a video-on-demand (VOD) system. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatusfor providing subscription-on-demand (SOD) services for such aninteractive information distribution system.

[0004] 2. Description of the Background Art

[0005] Recent advances in digital signal processing techniques and, inparticular, improvements in digital compression techniques, have led toa plethora of proposals for providing new digital services to acustomer's home via existing telephone and coaxial cable networks. Forexample, it has been proposed to provide hundreds of cable televisionchannels to subscribers by compressing digital data and digital video,transmitting the compressed digital signals over conventional coaxialcable television channels, and then decompressing the signals in thesubscriber's receiver. Another proposed application for this technologyis a video-on-demand (VOD) system in which a subscriber communicatesdirectly with a video service provider via telephone lines to request avideo program from a video library and the requested video program isrouted to the subscriber's home via telephone lines or via coaxial cabletelevision cables for immediate viewing. Other proposed VOD systems usea frequency multiplexing technique to enable control information for asubscriber's receiver to be transmitted through a cable network back toan information server. Such a system permits a bi-directionalcommunications over a single network.

[0006] In most of these information distribution systems, graphicalmenus are displayed upon the subscribers television and using a remotecontrol device, a subscriber selects a desired program for viewing. Onesuch graphical user interface based VOD system is disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 5,619,249, issued Apr. 8, 1997, and hereby incorporated herein byreference, wherein a viewing station including a television monitor anda high-power graphics computer are used to generate a graphical userinterface. The viewing stations are in communication with a telecastingfacility (i.e., service provider head end equipment) that transmitsselected video information as requested by the viewing station. Thegraphics computer within the viewing station locally stores all theexecutable programs that generate the graphical interface, control thegraphical interface, and interact with the subscriber. The graphicscomputer not only enables a subscriber to select programming to view,but also enables a non-subscriber to become a subscriber by interactingwith certain interface screens.

[0007] Although having such a high-power computer within the viewingstation is beneficial in providing nearly instantaneous responsivenessto the subscriber's and non-subscriber's inputs, such a high-powercomputer system is economically unfeasible to utilize as subscriberequipment for a large number of subscriber homes. As such, set topterminals or television receivers containing built-in high-powercomputers are generally not feasible as a commercial product.

[0008] Additionally, prior art VOD systems have only contemplatedselling services on a program-by-program basis. For example, in theprior art systems, a viewer navigates through various menus to arrive ata menu containing a program title that the subscriber desires to view.The subscriber then requests the program and the program is supplied tothe subscriber's display. The subscriber's account is then billed forthe order of that particular program. As such, the concept ofsubscriptions extends only to the general access to content and an a lacarte purchase of a unit of content. In this respect, the consumer'sexperience is nothing more than the transformation of the video storeexperience to the customer's home; the consumer is purchasing theability to access a program for a prescribed period of time. Suchsystems use the term “subscriber” to represent someone who has receivedan installation of the subscriber equipment to enable a technicallydifferent class of service to be accessed, namely, digital oranalog/digital services instead of the purely analog telecasts ofconventional cable television. Consequently, the “subscription” as usedin the prior art refers to the capability of selecting from a list asingle unit of content such as a movie or video. Heretofore, VOD systemshave not had a capability of packaging programming at a single pricesuch that a system subscriber can also be a program package subscriberto enable the package subscriber to view any program in the subscribedpackage without further cost.

[0009] Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatusfor providing subscription-on-demand services for an interactiveinformation distribution system. There is also a need to provide theseservices using equipment having a significant portion of the computingpower is contained within a service provider head end system such that aterminal for the subscriber's home can be manufactured relativelyinexpensively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The disadvantages heretofore associated with the prior art areovercome by the present invention of a method and apparatus forproviding subscription-on-demand (SOD) services for a interactiveinformation distribution system, where the system provides distributedcomputing resources using a relatively inexpensive subscriber terminal.The invention is embodied in a combination of software, which provides aso-called “navigator”, and hardware, including subscriber equipment andservice provider equipment that is interconnected by a communicationsnetwork. The graphical user interface functionality is distributedbetween the service provider equipment and subscriber equipment. Suchdistribution provides an enjoyable, real time interactive session thatallows the consumer to rapidly navigate through a plethora of menus tofind particular information which the consumer desires to view. Inaddition, a non-subscriber of a particular SOD service is quicklyidentified and provided the opportunity to, through the use of agraphical user interface, subscribe to the programming provided by thesystem.

[0011] Using the inventive equipment, a consumer is capable of furthersubscribing to packages of on-demand programming, i.e., SOD services,through manipulation of the graphical user interface. The systemprovides certain packages of on-demand programming, i.e., childrensprogramming, that a consumer may elect to subscribe to for a singleprice. As such, through manipulation of the menus, the consumer selectsa programming package, becomes a subscriber to that package and isbilled accordingly. Thereafter, the subscriber may view any program inthe package without additional cost. Although predefined programmingpackages are generally available for selection, a consumer mayoptionally create a personal SOD service by selecting programs for apersonal package that can then be subscribed to as any other programmingpackage.

[0012] Consequently, the invention differs from the prior art from bothan architectural standpoint and data management standpoint. Togetherthese innovations provide a complex price and data capacity managementinfrastructure necessary to offer a consumer friendly approach tosubscribing to a class of data or service content. This service contentmight be grouped by any logical association such as a series of moviesor other program content. The SOD service concept of having a singleprice for a package of programming removes the payment commitmentchallenge ordinarily posed by the prior art as a barrier to viewing eachitem of content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The teachings of the present invention can be readily understoodby considering the following detailed description in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

[0014]FIG. 1 depicts a high level block diagram of an interactiveinformation distribution system containing the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an illustrative subscriber'sterminal within the system of FIG. 1;

[0016]FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C together depict a flow diagram of a routinerepresenting the software that is executed within the system of FIG. 1to provide the subscription-on-demand services of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative menu structure for selecting asubscription-on-demand service;

[0018]FIG. 5 depicts a menu structure used to select a subscription itemthat is a subset of the subscription-on-demand service;

[0019]FIG. 6 is a menu depicting titles of programming within a specificcategory within said subscription on demand service;

[0020]FIG. 7 is a title information screen;

[0021]FIG. 8 is a menu that allows a consumer to subscribe to a selectedsubscription-on-demand service;

[0022]FIG. 9 is a menu that provides an input structure for a master PINnumber.

[0023] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals havebeen used, where possible, to designate identical elements that arecommon to the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The invention is a method and apparatus that provides asubscription-on-demand (SOD) service for an interactive informationdistribution system. Throughout the following description the term “SODservice” is defined as the capability of a consumer to subscribe topackages of programming at a pre-defined price and those programs withina subscribed package can be viewed, on-demand, without further cost tothe subscriber. As such, a consumer (i.e., a viewer having a systemaccount number) can request, through manipulation of a graphical userinterface, to subscribe to a package of programming, i.e., children'sprogramming, at a fixed price. Thereafter, any program within thepackage can be viewed at anytime, i.e., on-demand, without furthercharge. Optional viewing time restrictions and the like can beimplemented to limit package content viewing only during predefined timeperiods or, if viewing outside the time period is desired, an additionalfee is charged to the subscriber's account.

[0025] Although the SOD service of the present invention can beimplemented and executed using a number of different types ofinformation distribution systems, the preferred embodiment is used incombination with the interactive information distribution systemhardware described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/984,710, filed Dec. 3, 1997, and hereby incorporated herein byreference. However, the specific hardware arrangement is consideredillustrative of the type of system with which the invention is used. Useof the invention within other information distribution system hardwarearrangements that facilitate distributed computing resources between theservice provider head end and the subscriber's terminal is consideredwithin the scope of the invention.

[0026]FIG. 1 depicts a high level block diagram of the illustrativeinformation distribution system 100 that incorporates the presentinvention. The system 100 contains service provider equipment 102, acommunications network in the form of a cable transport subsystem 104and subscriber equipment 106 _(n), where n is an integer greater than 0.The service provider equipment 102 contains an information server 108which is typically a parallel processing computer containing at leastone central processing unit 110 and associated memory 112. U.S. Pat. No.5,671,377, issued Sep. 23, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,527, issued Nov.26, 1996, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, describe aserver that is capable of operating in the capacity of informationserver 108. The server 108 interacts with the data storage device 114(e.g., a disk drive array) that generally stores the subscriberinformation (e.g., video data) that will be recalled and downloaded tothe subscriber equipment 106. Additionally, within the service providerequipment 102 is a video session manager 122 that provides sessioncontrol of the information flowing to and from the server 108. The videosession manager 122 contains its own central processing unit (CPU) 124and associated memory 126 that provides functionality for the graphicaluser interfaces through which the consumer interacts with the system.The CPU 124 is part of a session control manager 125 that controls aplurality of modems 127 that facilitate communication with thesubscriber equipment. Other subsystems of the service provider equipmentinclude a network manager 142 and a back office subsystem 144. Thesesubsystems maintain certain databases of information that enable thesystem to accurately control system access, subscription packagedefinitions, and subscriber/consumer profile and billing.

[0027] The information server 108 is coupled to the video sessionmanager 122 via data path 116, synchronization clock path 118, andcontrol path 120. The server 108 provides data streams that are destinedfor consumers on path 116 and a synchronization clock on path 118. Thespecific data streams are provided in response to requests forinformation (e.g., menu applets, video programs, and other contentmaterial) from the video session manager 122 on path 120. These datastreams are packetized and modulated onto a carrier that is compatiblewith the transmission requirements of the network 104.

[0028] The video session manager 122 accomplishes all of thetransmission interface requirements of the system 100 as well asprovides graphical user interface support. Specifically, the videosession manager 122 is coupled through the modems 127 to subscriberequipment via a forward information channel 132, a forward commandchannel 133 and a back channel 134. All three of these channels aresupported by the cable transport subsystem 104. The video sessionmanager 122 contains a modulator for modulating the server data streamsonto one or more carrier frequencies for transmission on the forwardinformation channel 132. Additionally, modems 127 within the videosession manager 122 send control information via the forward commandchannel and receive control information via the back channel. Moreover,a conventional cable television signal source 128 is optionally coupledto the forward information channel via a signal coupler 130. Inoperation, the video session manager 122 responds to requests from thesubscriber equipment 106 for interactive menus and data streams byrequesting the server 108 to provide such information, thencommunicating that information to the requesting subscriber equipment106. The video session manager 122, as discussed below, also ensuresthat the subscriber equipment 106 is authorized to receive the requestedinformation.

[0029] The cable transport subsystem 104 can be any one of a number ofconventional broad band communications networks that are available suchas a fiber optic network, a telephone network, existing cable televisionnetwork and the like. For example, if the network is a hybrid fiber-coaxnetwork, the transport technique used in both forward channels may bemodeled after the moving pictures expert group (MPEG) transport protocolfor the transmission of video data streams. In general, the transportmechanism for both the forward channels and transport information to thesubscriber equipment must be able to carry unidirectional, asynchronouspacketized data such as that defined in the MPEG video and audio signaltransmission protocol, and the like. There are a number of suchtransport protocols available.

[0030] The subscriber equipment 106 receives the requested data streamsfrom the forward information channel, demodulates the streams andprocesses them for display on the display device 140 (e.g., aconventional television). In addition, the terminal 136 accepts commandsfrom a remote control input device 138 or other input device tofacilitate consumer interaction with the system. These commands areformatted, compressed, modulated, and transmitted through the network104 to the video session manager 122. Typically, this transmission isaccomplished through the back channel 134. These commands are preferablytransmitted through the same network used to transmit information to thesubscriber equipment. However, the back channel coupling the subscriberequipment to the server may be a separate network, e.g., a forwardinformation channel through a television cable network and a backchannel through a telephone network. The telephone network could alsosupport the forward control channel. The video session manager 122interprets each command set from the terminal through the back channeland instructs the information server to perform certain functions toimplement the consumer/subscriber request.

[0031]FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the terminal 136 which containsa transceiver 200, a central processing unit (CPU) 212 and a displaydriver 222. Of course, the functionality of the terminal 136 can beembedded within a single consumer electronics product such as a receivercircuit within a television. As such, the description of a separateterminal should be considered illustrative of the type of subscriberequipment that may be used to implement the present invention.

[0032] Within the set top terminal 136, the CPU 212 is supported byrandom access memory (RAM) 220, read only memory (ROM) 218 and varioussupport circuits 216 such as clocks, power supply, and infrared receiverand the like. The transceiver 200 contains a diplexer 202, a backchannel transmitter 208, an information channel receiver 204, a commandchannel receiver 210, an information decoder 206, a conventionaltelevision signal receiver 224, and a multiplexer 226. The diplexer 202couples the three channels carried by a single cable within the networkto the transmitter and receivers of the terminal. Each receiver 204 and210 contains a tuner, amplifiers, filters, a demodulator and adepacketizer. As such, the receivers tune, downconvert, and depacketizethe signals from the cable network in a conventional manner. Theinformation channel receiver 204 contains a conventional QAM demodulatorsuch as a model BCM3115 manufactured by the Broadcom Corporation. Othersuch demodulators are well known in the communications art and could beused in this application. However, this particular QAM demodulator alsocontains a built in “out-of-band” QPSK demodulator for handling commandand control data carried by the forward command channel. As such, asingle integrated circuit demodulator processes consumer/subscriberrequested information (audio and video) as well as command data.

[0033] The decoder 206 processes the data packets carryingconsumer/subscriber requested information produced by the QAMdemodulator into useable signals for the end user display, e.g.,television, home studio, video recorder and the like. The decoder 206 iscoupled to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) to facilitate decodingof the data packets and processing of command programs, as shall bediscussed below. The signals for display are conventionally processed bya display driver 222 to produce composite video as well as conventionaltelevision signals, e.g., modulated onto channel 3 or 4 using the NTSCstandard modulation.

[0034] The conventional cable signal receiver 224 contains a tuner andan analog (NTSC) demodulator. A multiplexer 226 couples the demodulatedanalog or decoded video signal to the display driver 222. Of course, theNTSC demodulator can be replaced with a PAL or SECAM standarddemodulator, as needed.

[0035] The demodulated QPSK signal provides command and controlinformation to the CPU 212 for generating certain graphics and controlinformation regions upon a television screen. The CPU is, for example, amodel 68302 processor manufactured by Motorola. This processor,operating in combination with the decoder 206 as well as a continuouslyavailable video signal from the information channel, producesscreen-displayed buttons, icons and graphical regions with which aconsumer interacts using the remote control. Without the video signal,the terminal 136 does not produce any display, i.e., the displays areactively generated in real-time as needed to facilitate certainnavigational and interface functions.

[0036] Specifically, a joy stick on the remote control 138 selectivelyhighlights certain predefined regions on the television screen. Toperform such highlighting, a reference region is always highlighted whena menu is first displayed. From that reference region, direction vectorsproduced by the joy stick are interpreted by the CPU 212 to highlight aregion lying in the direction in which the joy stick was moved. When adesired selectable icon is highlighted, the consumer depresses a“select” key on the remote that sends an infrared signal to an infraredreceiver (a support circuit 216). This receiver sends the select commandto the CPU 212 for interpretation. The selected region is generallyassociated with a function. If the function is a request for specificinformation or requires a change in the menu, the CPU 212 formats thecommand and sends it through the back channel transmitter 208 fortransmission to the video session manager 122. If the command is afunction that is handled locally such as volume control, the CPU 212implements the function within the terminal 136.

[0037] Since the session control commands are implemented by the videosession manager 122 and not the terminal 136 alone, the number ofavailable session control commands is infinite. Utilization of suchdistributed computing resources enables the most powerful processing tobe centrally located in the video session manager 122 and the CPU in theterminal 136 can be of relatively limited power. Consequently, all thesubscriber terminals 136 that are connected to a service provider headend 102 can rely on the computing power of the video session manager122. For example, the CPU in the video session manager 122 is a model68040 processor that is available from Motorola Inc. A particularhardware implementation of the video session manager is described indetail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/984,710,filed Dec. 3, 1997 and hereby incorporated herein by reference.

[0038] Each command menu is implemented by executing an “applet”, asdescribed below. The applets control both information sessions, e.g.,the presentation of video to the television screen, and navigatorfunctions, e.g., the menus that facilitate selection of a video programas well as subscriber on demand services. As such, particular commandsinclude, but are not limited to, information or menu navigationcommands, movies start at beginning, movies start at the middle, play,stop, rewind, forward, pause and the like. These presentation andnavigation control commands are sent via a back channel transmitter 208using binary phase shift key (BPSK) modulation. Additionally, the CPU inthe subscriber terminal implements certain local commands such asincrement or decrement the volume, channel change and on/off.

[0039] The invention is implemented as one or more interrelated“applets” which, when taken together form the interactive graphical userinterface that facilitates the SOD service of the present invention. Theapplets are transmitted for the most part, to the terminal via theforward information channel. Certain information used by particularapplets is transmitted to the terminal via a data stream propagatedthrough the forward command channel. As such, the data stream carryingthe applet is demodulated, the applet extracted and the applet'sinformation decoded prior to execution that displays a menu on thedisplay device. The detailed process by which an applet is downloadedand used to produce a menu is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/984,427, filed Dec. 3, 1997 and herebyincorporated herein by reference.

[0040]FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C together depict an overall flow diagram of anillustrative implementation of the SOD service 300 as executed on boththe video session manager CPU and the subscriber terminal CPU. FIGS. 3Aand 3B are divided into three columns, namely: a subscriber actioncolumn 302, a subscriber equipment process 304, and a service providerequipment process 306. FIGS. 4-9 depict various menu screens that a SODservice subscriber or a non-SOD service subscriber (i.e., a consumer)would be presented with while either accessing SOD services or becominga new subscriber for SOD services. For the following description, it isassumed that the consumer is already a subscriber of general systemservices (i.e., the consumer has an account number) and now desires tosubscribe to additional SOD services or utilize previously subscribedSOD services. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the SODservices, the various menu screens of FIGS. 4-9 are referred to as theflow diagram spanning FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C is described below.

[0041] The process begins at step 308 and continues to step 310. At step310, the terminal recalls a terminal identification number and a PINfrom memory and sends the number to the service provider equipment. Asdescribed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/738,343, filed Oct. 29, 1996, to provide security and limitprogramming access, each terminal of the interactive informationdistribution system is generally assigned a terminal identification(TID) number or code, each subscriber household account has a definedmaster personal identification number (master PIN), and each subscriberin a household may have a personal identification number (subaccountPIN). The TID provides security to identify whether a subscriberterminal is permitted access to the system at all, while the master PINand subaccount PIN define the level of service that a given subscriberis permitted to access. In addition to the TID, a master PIN may beassociated with a subset of subaccounts each having an associated PIN.The assignment and utilization of master PIN and subaccount PINs isdescribed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/738,343, filed Oct. 29, 1996 and hereby incorporated herein byreference. In general, the terminal identification number and both themaster and the subaccount PINs are used in providing the SOD service ofthe present invention.

[0042] At step 312, the video session manager 122 validates the PIN andTID authorization by comparing the transmitted TID and PIN to a PIN andTID stored in the video session manager memory. If the transmitted TIDand PIN are not in the memory, the video session manager sends, at step314, a menu applet that creates a display to inform the subscriber thatthe PIN or TID is invalid. If the TID and PIN are found to be valid, atstep 316, the video session manager sends a menu applet to the terminalthat will permit access to additional system programming.

[0043] To facilitate selection of an SOD service, a menu is presented atstep 320 to the subscriber on their television screen. As illustrativelyshown in FIG. 4, the menu structure may be defined by a grid or list or,in the example shown, a pie-shaped menu 400. Various services may beselected by highlighting and selecting any one of the “pie” sections402, 404, 406, or 408. Whenever a menu selection is made, the systemdownloads an applet corresponding to that section and either launches anew menu that provides further options for the subscriber or displays aselected program (e.g., starts playing a movie).

[0044] To select SOD services, the user highlights section 408 that maybe, for example, a children's program SOD service known as “OnSet Kids”(OnSet is a trademark of DIVA Corporation of Menlo Park, Calif.). Insuch a service, a user can subscribe to unlimited access to any of thechildren's programs offered under the subscription package “OnSet Kids”.More generally, the subscription packages may consist of a collection ofprograms having a common point of interest, e.g., sports, cooking,travel, automotive, educational, children's programming, homeimprovement, soap operas, network prime time television broadcasts,music videos, and the like. Subscription packages are alternativelycustomized by a subscriber at the time of subscription.

[0045] For the illustrative menu example of FIG. 4, the subscriber isassumed to have selected, at step 322, the SOD service of section 408that is associated with the children's programming subscription. Once asection is selected, the terminal sends, at step 324, an option requestcorresponding to the selected menu option to the session manager 122.

[0046] At step 326, the system determines whether theconsumer/subscriber has a subscription for the selected service. Todetermine such subscription service authorization, the account number ofthe subscriber is compared to a subscription account number database inthe network manager. If the subscriber is authorized to access theselected service (the SOD service of option 408 in FIG. 4), the processproceeds to point B of FIG. 3B. Alternatively, if authorization for theselected service is not found, the process proceeds to point A of FIG.3C.

[0047] At step 328, the video session manager sends an applet to theterminal to enable the terminal to produce a category menu at step 330.FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary category display 500 for a children'sprogram subscription, e.g., OnSet Kids. The depicted menu 500 shows alist 502 of selectable categories. Each category in the list 502represents a particular class of programming, i.e., programming that isrelated in some way.

[0048] At step 332, the subscriber selects a category within thecategory menu and, at step 334, the terminal sends a category request tothe video session manager. After receiving a category selection in step336, the video session manager sends an applet for a title menu to theterminal. At step 338, the terminal decodes and executes the applet todisplay a title menu. FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary menu list 600 having alist of titles that are associated with the selected category, in thiscase, Sesame Street.

[0049] When the subscriber selects a title in step 340, the titleselection, e.g., a program identification (PID), is sent to the videosession manager. After receiving a title selection, the video sessionmanager determines, at step 344, the title price. The price of theprogramming selected from the title menu is determined by the videosession manager sending a price request to the network manager. Thenetwork manager performs a search of its pricing database and returns aprice of either zero or non-zero. A non-zero price is returned, forexample, if the subscription is limited to a restricted time window. Forexample, the OnSet Kids children's programming subscription service maybe limited to viewing from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. and, the request is beingmade outside of that time window. As such, any request by a subscriberoutside of the window is charged a nominal fee, i.e., the subscriber isprovided an “a la carte” menu as described below with respect to step354. If the price that is returned to the video session manager is zerodollars (the query of step 346 is affirmatively answered), then thevideo session manager sends, at step 348, an applet for a display of atitle information screen. At step 350, the terminal displays a titleinformation screen indicating the viewing price is zero dollars and alsoprovides the subscriber with a start option so that the subscriber maycommence viewing of the program. FIG. 7 is an exemplary titleinformation screen 700 showing information about the program that wasselected as well as providing a start option as shown as button 702.Additionally, a preview clip may be executed and depicted for the userby selecting the icon 704.

[0050] If, however, the network manager returns a non-zero price to thevideo session manager, then the video session manager sends, at step352, an applet for a second type of title information screen. At step354, the terminal creates a screen informing the subscriber of thereason for the non-zero price and also presents the user with an “a lacarte” purchase option. The subscriber will then be able to purchase andview the a la carte selection or return to a previous menu.

[0051] If, at step 326 of FIG. 3A, the service provider equipmentdetermines that the consumer does not have an active subscription, e.g.,does not have a subscription to the selected subscription package, theprocess proceeds along path A to step 358 of FIG. 3C. At step 358, thevideo session manager sends an applet for a subscription informationscreen. The subscription information screen applet is decoded andexecuted by the terminal at step 356 to create a subscriptioninformation screen. The subscription information screen describes thesubscription offering to the non-subscriber and then presents a sign-upscreen through which the user can interactively subscribe for theservice period.

[0052]FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary screen 800 for interactivelyrequesting a subscription-on-demand service, i.e., offers the subscriberan option to purchase a subscription. If the subscriber declines (step360) the subscription offer, the terminal then sends, at step 362, arefusal signal to the session manager. In response to the refusal, theprocess returns (step 364) to point C prior to step 316 in FIG. 3A. If,however, a system subscriber elects to purchase a category subscription,the terminal sends, at step 366, an acceptance signal. In response tothe acceptance signal, at step 368, the session manager requests amaster PIN as a confirmation of the subscriber's capability to make asubscription purchase. As such, a person having only a subaccount PIN isnot capable of subscribing to a subscription-on-demand service. Tofacilitate the subscription confirmation, the session manager sends anapplet for a master PIN request screen. At step 370, the terminaldecodes the applet and displays the master PIN request screen.

[0053]FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary master PIN confirmation entry screen900. The screen 900 contains a field 902 where the subscriber can entera master PIN. The master PIN is entered at step 372 and, at step 374,the master PIN is sent to the session manager. After the master PIN isreceived, at step 376, the video session manager verifies the master PINas valid. To verify the validity of the PIN, the video session managercompares the entered PIN to the PIN in its memory. If the master PIN isinvalid, the subscriber is given one or more further opportunities tocorrectly enter the master PIN, then the process proceeds to step 378where the process continues at point C prior to step 316 of FIG. 3A. Ifthe PIN is valid, the routine proceeds to step 380 where the videosession manager updates the subscription database stored in the networkmanager with the account number of the new subscriber to the selectedsubscription service. After updating the subscription data base, theroutine updates, at step 382, the administrative system such that theinteractive information distribution system's billing system is updatedwith the new subscriber's account number. Once subscribed, the processproceeds from step 382 to step 328 of FIG. 3B where the system providesthe new subscriber an opportunity to utilize the newly subscribedservice.

[0054] The present invention implements subscription-on-demand servicesby having the computer resources needed for the service to bedistributed between the subscriber equipment and the service providerequipment. To implement the service, the terminal need only decode andexecute simple applets to produce various interactive displays and sendsimple information requests. The service provider equipment performs thesignificant computing for menu generation, security handling, andsubscription processing. As such, the terminal can be relativelyinexpensive, making the overall system economically feasible.

[0055] The interactive structure of the inventive subscription-on-demandsystem enables flexible subscription packages to be created. Forexample, a hierarchical subscription package structure can be producedthat has various levels of access. The following is an illustrativeexample of a hierarchical package structure for sporting events:

[0056] SPORTS

[0057] FOOTBALL

[0058] COLLEGE

[0059] PRO

[0060] BASKETBALL

[0061] COLLEGE

[0062] MENS

[0063] WOMENS

[0064] PRO

[0065] MENS

[0066] WOMENS

[0067] GOLF

[0068] HOCKEY

[0069] and so on

[0070] Under this hierarchy, a consumer may subscribe to SPORTS andreceive access to all sports programming available for a predefinedprice. However, those that desire only to have access to, for example,men's professional basketball would subscribe only to that particularprogramming selection at a predefined price. Such a hierarchicalarrangement can be divided into any number of levels, e.g., specificteams, or grouped into various packages, e.g., all professional sports.Additionally, the invention can be expanded to enable consumers tocreate their own personal SOD service by selecting their favoriteprograms or program classes for grouping into an SOD package such that asingle price can be paid to access all the selected programming over apre-defined period of time, e.g., a predefined price for accessing theselected programming for a month. As such, dynamically defined subsetsof content can be created as the personal SOD packages. The programmingis selected through manipulation of interactive menus (generated usingmenu applets as described above) and the program identification codes(PIDs) for the selected programming are stored in the subscriptiondatabase with the consumer's account number (and/or PIN or TID, ifneeded). As such, the subscriber can access their personal SOD serviceat any time and without further payment. At the end of the period, theservice would be renewable such that the subscriber would not have toreenter the selection at the end of each period.

[0071] Although various embodiments which incorporate the teachings ofthe present invention have been shown and described in detail hereinthose skilled in the arts can readily devise many other variedembodiments that still incorporate these teachings.

What is claimed is:
 1. In an interactive information distribution systemcontaining service provider equipment and subscriber equipment that isinterconnected by a communications network, a method of providing asubscription-on-demand service for an interactive informationdistribution system comprising the steps of: packaging a number ofon-demand programs into a programming packages; and enabling asubscriber to access any on-demand program within a subscribedprogramming package on an on-demand basis.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising the step of: enabling a consumer to select aprogramming package and subscribe to the selected programming packagefor a predefined price and thereby become said subscriber.
 3. The methodof claim 1 wherein a subscriber is limited to on-demand access toon-demand programs within the subscribed programming package only duringpredefined time periods without incurring an additional fee.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said on-demand programming within saidprogramming package is defined by the subscriber.
 5. The method of claim1 wherein the programming packages are arranged in an hierarchicalformat having subsets of programming packages within a programmingpackage to enable a viewer to subscribe to a programming package subsetwithout subscribing to an entire programming package.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein a consumer selects a programming package and subscribesthereto by manipulating a graphical user interface.
 7. In an interactiveinformation distribution system containing service provider equipmentand subscriber equipment that is interconnected by a communicationsnetwork, a method of providing a subscription-on-demand service for aninteractive information distribution system comprising the steps of:sending from said service provider equipment to said subscriberequipment a first menu applet; decoding and executing said first menuapplet within said subscriber equipment to display a first interactivegraphical user interface; selecting, through manipulation of the firstinteractive graphical user interface, a subscription option; sending aselection signal indicative of said selected subscription option fromsaid subscriber equipment to said service provider equipment;determining, within said service provider equipment, if the subscriberis a current subscriber to said service identified by said selectionsignal; if the subscriber is said current subscriber, sending a secondmenu applet from said subscriber equipment to said service providerequipment; decoding and executing said second menu applet within saidsubscriber equipment to display a second interactive user interfacethrough which the subscriber can select a subscription program forviewing; if said subscriber is not said current subscriber, sending athird menu applet from said subscriber equipment to said serviceprovider equipment; and decoding and executing said third menu appletwithin said subscriber equipment to display a third interactive userinterface through which the subscriber can become a subscriber to theselected service.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein second menu applet isconnected to other menu applets that provide interactive displays ofcategories of services, titles of programs available in each category,and program pricing for each tile.
 9. The method of claim 7 furthercomprising the step of: if a new subscription is created, updating asubscription database within said service provider equipment to identifythe subscriber as a subscriber to the selected service.
 10. The methodof claim 7 further comprising the step of: if a subscriber requests anew subscription, sending a fourth menu applet from said serviceprovider equipment and decoding and executing said fourth menu appletwithin said subscriber equipment to display a menu that requests apersonal identification number for said subscriber.
 11. The method ofclaim 10 wherein said personal identification number is a masterpersonal identification number.
 12. The method of claim 7 wherein thesubscriber selects programming for a personal subscription-on-demandservice and a personal subscription-on-demand option is included in saiddisplay produced from said first menu applet.
 13. The method of claim 7wherein said subscription-on-demand services are arranged in ahierarchical structure.
 14. A method of providing asubscription-on-demand service for an interactive informationdistribution system comprising the steps of: providing a programmingselection menu through which a subscriber selects programming for apersonal subscription-on-demand service; selecting programming to definesaid personal subscription-on-demand service; storing programmingidentification codes associated with said selected programming and asubscriber identification number; enabling said subscriber, through useof said subscriber identification number, to access said personalsubscription-on-demand service by paying a single predefined price foraccess to the programming identified by the programming identificationcodes for a predefined period.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein saidsubscriber identification number is one of a personal identificationnumber, a terminal identification number, or an account number. 16.Apparatus for providing subscription-on-demand services within aninteractive information distribution system comprising: service providerequipment containing an information server and a video session manager;subscriber equipment containing a subscriber terminal and a displayunit, where the service provider equipment is connected to thesubscriber equipment by a communications network; and said video sessionmanager sends a plurality of executable menu applets to said subscriberterminal, said terminal executes each of said menu applets to generateinteractive graphical user interface displays through which a subscriberselects a service; the subscriber terminal sends a service request tosaid session manager for processing; if the subscriber is said currentsubscriber of the selected service, the subscriber can select asubscription program for viewing; if said subscriber is not said currentsubscriber, the subscriber can become a subscriber to the selectedservice.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the subscriber terminaldecodes and executes the applets that are sent by the session manager toproduce said interactive graphical user interface displays and sends tothe video session manager selection signals indicative of a selectedoption within said interactive graphical user interface displays. 18.The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said video session manager, to providesecurity and system administration, accesses a personal identificationdatabase, a terminal identification database, and a subscriber databasethat are contained in a network manager.
 19. In an interactiveinformation distribution system containing service provider equipmentand subscriber equipment that is interconnected by a communicationsnetwork, a method of providing dynamic pricing for information that issupplied by the interactive information distribution system comprisingthe steps of: selecting information through interaction with saidsubscriber equipment, where the information is being requested fordelivery from the service provider equipment to the subscriberequipment; transmitting the information selection to said serviceprovider equipment; determining, within said service provider equipment,whether the subscriber equipment that has requested the information iseligible for a discount price with respect to the selected information;if eligible, then sending a discount price quote to the subscriberequipment for display to the subscriber; otherwise, sending an a lacarte price quote to the subscriber equipment for display to thesubscriber.
 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising: making apurchase request based upon the price quote displayed to the subscriberthrough manipulation of the subscriber equipment; transmitting theselected information from the service provider equipment to thesubscriber equipment.
 21. The method of claim 19 wherein the informationis a movie.
 22. The method of claim 19 wherein the discount price iszero.
 23. The method of claim 19 wherein the service provider equipmentcomprises a database that correlates subscriber identification todiscounted programs.
 24. The method of claim 19 wherein the discountprice is based upon purchasing a subscription package.